Brett Ratner Decides to Quit as Oscar Producer After Making Gay Slur

Commenting on Ratner's resignation, the Academy president Tom Sherak says, 'He did the right thing for the Academy and for himself. Words have meaning, and they have consequences.'

Photo credit: Nikki Nelson/WENN

Brett Ratner finally decided to step down from his position as the co-producer of the 2012 Academy Awards telecast after grabbing the headlines by making an anti-gay slur recently. On Tuesday, November 8, the 42-year-old filmmaker announced that he resigned from his duty after having a discussion with president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Tom Sherak.

"I called Tom Sherak this morning and resigned as a producer of the 84th Academy Awards telecast," so Ratner wrote in his statement. "Being asked to help put on the Oscar show was the proudest moment of my career. But as painful as this may be for me, it would be worse if my association with the show were to be a distraction from the Academy and the high ideals it represents."

He also apologized to all of those who were offended by his blatant anti-gay comment. He wrote, "Over the last few days, I've gotten a well-deserved earful from many of the people I admire most in this industry expressing their outrage and disappointment over the hurtful and stupid things I said in a number of recent media appearances. To them, and to everyone I've hurt and offended, I'd like to apologize publicly and unreservedly."

The Florida-born filmmaker continued, "So many artists and craftspeople in our business are members of the LGBT community, and it pains me deeply that I may have hurt them." He added, "I should have known this all along, but at least I know it now: words do matter. Having love in your heart doesn't counts for much if what comes out of your mouth is ugly and bigoted."

"With this in mind, and to all those who understandably feel that apologies are not enough, please know that I will be taking real action over the coming weeks and months in an effort to do everything I can both professionally and personally to help stamp out the kind of thoughtless bigotry I've so foolishly perpetuated," he added.

In the meantime, Sherak released a statement in response to Ratner's decision to bow out as the Oscar producer. The Academy president said, "He did the right thing for the Academy and for himself. Words have meaning, and they have consequences. Brett is a good person, but his comments were unacceptable. We all hope this will be an opportunity to raise awareness about the harm that is caused by reckless and insensitive remarks, regardless of the intent."

Ratner made the controversial gay slur when he attended a Q&A session following the screening of his directed film, "Tower Heist", on Friday, November 4. At that time, he said, "Rehearsal? What's that? Rehearsal is for f**s." On Monday, November 7, he offered an apology for slipping out the gay remarks, admitting, "It was a dumb way of expressing myself."